King to my prejudice."

"I was at an evening party at the Marquess of Lansdowne's on Friday,"
wrote Lord Cochrane on the 25th of April, "and there I met the Lord
Chancellor [Brougham] who was very civil indeed, and told me they had a
battle to fight for me, and hoped they would succeed. Since then the
electors of the borough of Southwark have sent a deputation to beg me to
stand; but hearing that Brougham's brother was also to be a candidate, I
have declined opposing him. I had a double motive for this line of
conduct, for, had I been returned to Parliament, I could not
conscientiously have accepted a favour at the hands of the ministers of
the Crown."

Service in the House of Commons was, soon after that, made impossible to
Lord Cochrane. His father, Archibald, ninth Earl of Dundonald, died on
the 1st of July, 1831. Lord Cochrane then ceased to be a commoner, and
became in succession, when he was nearly fifty-six years old, Earl of
Dundonald.

As Earl of Dundonald, however, he found it no easier to obtain an answer
to his demand for justice than as Lord Cochrane. In September he heard
that his opponents were making use of some Admiralty correspondence
respecting his conduct in Chili, nearly ten years before, to throw fresh
difficulties in his way. He at once applied to Sir James Graham, the
First Lord of the Admiralty, for extracts from this correspondence of
any parts requiring explanation, in order that he might furnish the
same. "I beg leave to state," wrote Sir James in reply, "that it is not
usual for his Majesty's Government to produce, from the records of
public offices, documents which do not appear to be required for any
public purpose. I am therefore under the necessity of declining to
comply with your lordship's request." "Is it not astonishing," said Lord
Dundonald, in a letter to the Duke of Hamilton, "that Sir James Graham
does not consider justice to an individual to be a public object?"

Tired out, at length, by the delays in the settlement of his case, Lord
Dundonald wisely resolved to seek a personal interview with the King.
With that object he went down to Brighton, and the interview was readily
granted to him on Sunday, the 27th of November. He was graciously
received, and the King listened attentively to his respectful claim for
a fair investigation of the matter, and for permission to rebut any
charges that might be brought against him respecting his conduct in
connection with the Stock Excha